The ability to accurately point a shipboard-mounted antenna at a remote target (e.g. satellite) is limited by (open-loop) time varying errors that are introduced into the control mechanism by a number of physical parameters, such as ship motion, structural integrity of the antenna mount, and temperature-induced changes in deck shape. Moreover, in practice, errors such as variations in ship and support structure cannot be calibrated out, thereby effectively preventing accurate continued alignment of the components of the control hardware. In the past, these inaccuracies have been tolerated by mounting such antennas on large ships, such as carriers, battleships and cruisers, that are subject to minimum wave-induced motion, and by using antennas that possess wide aperture and control loop bandwidth characteristics. Present-day shipboard communication systems, however, are not limited to use with only specific types of platforms; all units of the fleet can be expected to have satellite communication capability. In addition, because of the new high frequencies and link characteristics, aperture size and signal-to-noise ratio have shrunk, thereby mandating more precise control of both antenna installation and pointing accuracy. Unfortunately, because of their limited bandwidth, conventional autotrack loops, which are adequate to track the satellite, are effectively incapable of nulling the above-referenced time-varying pointing errors.